patti smith
Patti Smith Releasing Instagram-Inspired Book in November
Patti Smith is transforming her popular Instagram feed into A Book of Days, which will be released Nov. 15 by Penguin. The book includes 365 photos meant to represent a year in Smith’s life of touring, visiting the graves of literary heroes such as Dylan Thomas and Sylvia Plath and hanging out with her kids and cat. Per Penguin: In 2018, without any plan or agenda for what might happen next, Patti Smith posted her first Instagram photo: her hand with the simple message “Hello Everybody!” Known for shooting with her beloved Land Camera 250, Smith started posting images from her phone including portraits of her kids, her radiator, her boots, and her Abyssinian cat, Cairo. Followers felt an immediate affinity with these miniature windows into Smith’s world, photographs of her daily coffee, th...
Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith Help Reimagine Iconic Bob Dylan Video
Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith, directors Jim Jarmusch and Wim Wenders, Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie and The Stone Roses’ John Squire have contributed to a new version of Bob Dylan’s iconic 1965 video for “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” which was released today (May 6) in conjunction with an ongoing celebration of Dylan’s 60 years as a Columbia Records artist. The original clip was part of the opening sequence of D.A. Pennebaker’s esteemed documentary Don’t Look Back and features Dylan rifling through a series of cue cards with lyrics from the song. In the new video, these cue cards have been visually reimagined by the aforementioned names, as well as artists such as Cey Adams, Julian House, Naoki Urasawa and French singer/songwriter Francis Cabrel. [embedded content][embedded content] T...
Listen to Patti Smith’s New Live at Electric Lady EP
Patti Smith is back from when the world ended in 2012, or the last year she released new music. This morning she dropped her newest recordings as a part of Live at Electric Lady, Spotify and Electric Lady Studios’ new series of live EPs. Smith sweetly surprised us all, nine years after her record Banga. “We are very proud to be part of Spotify’s Live at Electric Lady series, our favorite recording studio,” Smith said in a statement. “It was a unique challenge and offered us an exciting and innovative platform.” Smith recorded the EP live in April at Electric Lady, singing her own classics “Birdland,” “Ghost Dance,” and “Broken Flag.” Carrying on “Birdland” for nine minutes just like the original recording, Smith embodies equal emotion 46 years later. Off her 1978 Easter, the new Elect...
History Personified: Lenny Kaye’s Life in Music
The Greenwich Village of the 1960s was a carnival of music, literature, poetry, coffee houses, free love, fashion and great ethnic food. The neighborhood’s heartbeat was Bleecker Street, where one could hear the soon-to-be-discovered Bob Dylan at The Village Gate, or Joni Mitchell at The Bitter End. 1967 saw the arrival of Village Oldies on Bleecker Street, a record store offering doo-wop, disco, rock and roll, blues, garage, and rare overseas finds. This open-all-night mecca of music soon became the late-night hang for the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Frank Zappa, and was where an aspiring poet/singer named Patti Smith met store clerk and musician Lenny Kaye. CREDIT: Jonathan Broady Flash forward 50-plus years and Kaye, who spent 46 years with Smith as a founding member and guitarist of the ...
Patti Smith Performs ‘People Have the Power’ for Voters in New York City
Patti Smith and her longtime guitarist Lenny Kaye serenaded early voters with her apropos 1988 song “‘People Have the Power” in a New York City performance early Tuesday morning. With New York City being Smith’s home base, many voters standing in line knew the tunes and joined in on the chorus. A clip of the moment was posted to the Instagram of the Joy To The Polls account, who wrote, “Singing to voters in the streets is so punk! We love @thisispattismith bringing people power to the polls with this impromptu performance in NYC earlier this week. You don’t have to be the Godmother of Punk to surprise and delight voters in long voting lines!” Finishing the song, Smith entreated, “Don’t forget it, use your voice! Vote!” Additionally, Smith, masked and in a beanie, posted a photo on Instagra...
John Lennon Tribute Concert to Feature Patti Smith, Jackson Browne and More
The 40th Annual John Lennon Tribute, featuring previously unseen and newly recorded performances Jackson Browne, Patti Smith, Natalie Merchant, Taj Mahal, Rosanne Cash, Bettye LaVette and more can be viewed online beginning on the late Beatles’ birthday, Oct. 9 at 7 p.m. ET. It will be shown through Oct. 12 at Midnight and benefits the Theatre Within’s Real Love Fund. The program will include unreleased performances from previous Tributes, plus new performances of Lennon and, of course, Beatles classics. For more information, and to view the concert, go here. “For 40 years, Theatre Within has remembered John with its heartfelt annual tribute, while having a powerful positive impact with its John Lennon Real Love Project music program for those by impacted cancer. What a wonderful...
Nigerian doctor named one of TIME’s Most Influential People in the world
TIME named Nigerian physician Tunji Funsho to the 2020 TIME100, its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. The full list and related tributes are available now at time.com/time100, and Mr Funsho’s TIME100 profile is available here. The list, now in its seventeenth year, recognizes the activism, innovation and achievement of the world’s most influential individuals. Mr Funsho, a cardiologist based in Lagos, Nigeria, is the first Rotary member to receive this honour for the organisation’s work to eradicate polio, having played an essential role in ensuring Africa’s certification as wild polio-free in August of 2020. “I’m honored to be recognized by TIME for my part in ensuring that no child in Africa will ever again be paralyzed by wild polio, a disease that once disabl...
Patti Smith, Michael Stipe and More Join Forces on ‘People Have the Power’
Patti Smith, Joan Baez, Michael Stipe, Cyndi Lauper, Stella McCartney, Tony Hawk, and Micah Nelson — along with dozens of artists and activists worldwide — recorded a socially distant version of “People Have the Power” to honor the sixth anniversary of non-profit group Pathway to Paris. The organization, co-founded by Smith’s daughter Jesse Paris Smith and cellist Rebecca Foon, is dedicated to offering tangible solutions for combatting global climate change. This version of the 1988 song, written by Smith and late husband/bandmate Fred “Sonic” Smith, features participants from 24 countries, 38 cities and six continents. Check it out below. [embedded content] In a statement on her official Instagram page, Patti Smith said of the video, “This is a gift from @pathway2paris for the autumn...
The 25 Best Soundtrack Albums of the 1990s
In the 1980s, music and film collided for cross-promotional blockbusters both transcendent (Purple Rain) and transcendently cheesy (Footloose). In the ‘90s, soundtracks continued to sell in the millions, capturing cultural moments like the Seattle grunge of Singles or the Britpop and electronica of Trainspotting. Auteurs like Quentin Tarantino and Wes Anderson reached deep into their record collections to set the mood while movies like Above the Rim and Menace II Society pioneered the concept of soundtracks as hip-hop mixtapes. A great soundtrack can propel an unsuccessful single, like Seal’s “Kiss From A Rose,” to the top of the charts, or revive a decades-old hit, like Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” It can also push a cult singer-songwriter like Elliott Smith or Aimee Mann to an Oscar perf...
Patti Smith to Hold Special Virtual Performance and Book Reading
Patti Smith will hold a special performance featuring music and a reading of excerpts from her most recent memoir, Year of the Monkey. Filmed by acclaimed cinematographer Matthew Schroeder, “An Evening of Words & Music With Patti Smith” will take place at the Murmrr Theatre in Brooklyn. Aside from the book reading, Smith will play a brief set with her longtime bandmate Tony Shanahan. This isn’t the only livestream Smith has participated in this year. To celebrate Earth Day (April 22), she, along with a group of artists including R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Flea and Cat Power, performed at Pathway to Paris Earth Day 50: A Virtual Festival. Earlier today, Smith paid tribute to her son, Jackson, on his birthday. In January, she penned a special poem to...
The 10 Best Punk and Alternative Bob Dylan Covers
Bob Dylan is one of the most widely covered artists in popular music – hit versions of his songs by the Byrds and Peter, Paul and Mary helped make him famous, and Dylan covers by Jimi Hendrix and Guns N’ Roses permanently remain in rock radio rotation. And even artists from the punk and alternative scenes that tend to have less reverence for ‘60s nostalgia been drawn to the Dylan songbook, often giving his compositions dramatically different arrangements. With Dylan’s first collection of new songs in eight years, Rough and Rowdy Ways, out now, here’s a look back at 10 Dylan songs that were memorably reimagined by punk, post-punk, indie, alternative, avant jazz and industrial artists. 10. My Chemical Romance – “Desolation Row” “Desolation Row,” the mighty 11-minute closer from 1965’s Highwa...
